Interest in water infrastructure high at AgQuip

Peter Graham, Grahams Precast, Kyogle, said while interest was "a bit slower", demand for concrete products like troughs, feed bunks and silage pit walls is high, with waiting times stretched to 12 to 15 weeks.

"We're turning out 40 to 50 troughs daily," Mr Graham said. "This is due to demand from smaller operators considering setting up feed bunks to feed their stock or ensure a good water supply.

"We're finding people started to plan maybe six to seven, even 12 months ago, so they have that mini feedlot or silage bunker in place.

"I had one chap who visited me three or four years in a row at AgQuip planning his water supply for three big properties. Now, he's installed about 450 troughs.

"Others are setting up little feedlots to feed through the dry or building silage bunkers with 2.4 metre by 2.4m L-shaped panels that can store silage, barley or cotton seed."

Mr Graham said he'd had to increase his staff from five to 28 people in the past five years to help meet the demand for his products.

Joel Conron, Conron Stockcrete, Grenfell, said he'd seen plenty of interest in troughs and stock water infrastructure during the three days of the event.

"People are starting to think ahead and plan a bit better. It wasn't that long ago that we were in drought," Mr Conron said.

"We've had a couple of good years, and there's been plenty of talk about depressed sheep and cattle prices, and this year's crop is on the edge. So the budget is going to be a bit tighter."

Mr Conron said while visitor numbers may have been down this year compared to previous years, "we still have a swag of jobs to price up".

He said most attention and demand was focused on dual-purpose sheep and cattle troughs.

"We talk with them and ask them to focus on the supply. We firmly believe in having good storage and bigger pipes and getting more water to the trough; you can be effective with a smaller trough rather than a huge one," he said.

"In this way, the stock gets a better drink. The water is fresher and a bit cooler."

Mr Conron said while his company had been manufacturing concrete pads for troughs "for a while", there was plenty of interest from field day visitors in the pads.

"We were one of the originals to manufacture the portable concrete pads, and about 80 per cent of the jobs we do will have a pad with them. It just takes out all of the labour and effort in getting concrete out on the farm," he said.